I like Barrack Obama and wouldn’t have a problem voting for him in the general election if he won the Democratic nomination. But after spending a great deal of time on various “progressive” blogs and websites where his support runs deep, it has become obvious Obama is not the man the left believes him to be.

Cavorting With The Enemy

If one entity has been the adversary of the modern “progressive” movement, it’s the centrist Democratic Leadership Council, the think tank that got Bill Clinton elected. This may surprise many people who might think the Republican party is the left’s enemy, but consider this: “Progressives” view the DLC as a barrier to them taking power. In their minds, if the DLC disappeared there would be nothing hindering a glorious leftwing revolution in the United States. Given a choice between themselves and the Republicans, they believe, Americans would pick “progressives” over conservatives every time. They just have to eliminate that pesky centrist think tank!

The reason the left despises the “Bill Clinton wing” of the Democratic party is because of their embrace of free market capitalism, competition, and entrepreneurship. The DLC is shunned because they believe many New Deal and Great Society social programs no longer work as they were designed to and should be reworked or shelved completely. The DLC is labeled “Republican lite” by the left because they take corporate and lobbyist money to compete with Republicans, and they believe in a strong military.

But what really gets the left’s goat in regards to the DLC is their willingness to work across the aisle, to compromise with the opposition party, in the spirit of progress. After all, that is the true definition of politics. And the left hates it! So who does the left turn to to lead their charge? Barack Obama.

Not Who You Think He Is

Obama is the left’s “great white hope,” except he’s black. He’s the “progressive” being tapped to be the Hillary slayer of 2008. But there are problems buried deep in the pages of his book “Audacity of Hope,” a secret that threatens to rip away the image the left blogosphere has given him: He’s the enemy.

Starting on page 10 of Audacity of Hope, Obama proudly proclaims he believes “in the free market, competition, and entrepreneurship, and think no small number of government programs donâ€™t work as advertised….”

Just like the DLC!

He states, “I think America has more often been a force for good than for ill in the world; I carry few illusions about our enemies, and revere the courage and competence of our military.â€

Just like the DLC.

Several pages later, Obama laments the polarization of our political system, calling it the â€œsmallness of our politics.” He states, in an obvious slam to the very faction of the Democratic party who supports him, “In distilled form, though, the explanations of both the right and the left have become mirror images of each other. They are stories of conspiracy, of America being hijacked by an evil cabal…. A government that truly represents these Americans (those â€œwho are going about their business every dayâ€)â€”that truly serves these Americansâ€”will require a different kind of politics.â€

Say it with me… just like the DLC!

Obama also criticizes the Democratic party for being weak on moral values, he speaks of the naivety of the 60s “progressive” movement, he endorses the death penalty, and, what may be the most lethal stab to the heart of his netroots base, declares “a lot of liberal rhetoric… value(s) rights and entitlements over duties and responsibilities…. Reagan offered Americans a sense of common purpose that liberals seemed no longer able to muster.â€

Ouch! While the DLC certainly is on board with those concepts, they wouldn’t go so far as to pile adoration onto Ronald Reagan!

If you think you’re seeing some very definitive third-way thinking with Obama, you are correct. But it doesn’t end with the utterances in his book. During first quarter fundraising, Obama declared he’d take no lobbyist or corporate money. It was later revealed he had. Finally, during the first Democratic debate in South Carolina this year, Obama gave an answer on the topic of abortion straight out of the DLC’s “safe, rare, and legal” playbook.

Does all this mean Obama is bad candidate? Absolutely not. Most of this would make me more likely to vote for him. What it reveals, though, is a certain hypocrisy on the left. The candidate they’ve latched onto, who is taking policy advice from Colin Powell as a matter of fact, is the mirror image of what they claim to despise.

7 users commented in " Barack Obama: NOT The Candidate His Supporters Believe Him To Be "

There needs to be a progressive party, be it a third party or no, there needs to be one.

J said,

in June 19th, 2007 at 1:59 pm

Umm, the DLC has endorsed Clinton’s candidacy so this post is pretty much irrelevant.

ben said,

in June 19th, 2007 at 2:55 pm

I think you overstate the case about progressives disliking the DLC. It is not about anti-competiveness and anti-market. It is anti-coporatism. The reason this is important is that their is a misconception that corporate America likes competition. Do 3 major oil companies like competition, do the pharmaceticuals like competition? Does Microsoft like competition? No, in fact they use the government and its policies to help quash competition. What progressives dislike about the DLC is the it kow-tows to the wrong interests. Their are many examples of progressive countries that use markets and competition to encourage more effective policy that are not “corporate”. Look at school choice in the Netherlands. You can basically go to any school you want and you have money on your head, but there are no private schools. I agree with you that Barack is willing to go further with markets and competition than many progressives are comfortable (see his health care plan). But he has gone really far towards avoiding ties with corporatism (he flies commericial). This is a narrow distinction, but a highly important one.

Lee Larson said,

in June 19th, 2007 at 5:29 pm

All right, Obama is young and enthusiastic, and he smiles a lot, but what real qualifications for the office of President does he have besides the fact that he wants the job? The movie ‘Mr. Smith Goes to Washington’ has already been made, and Obama is just a bit anti-climactic.

Obama specifically rejected overtures from the DLC back when he ran for Illinois Senator. Obama is the only front-runner in the Dem Party Primary who is not and has never been a member of the DLC (Clinton is, Gore was, Edwards was maybe still is, Richardson is). The comment above is correct: The DLC is about catering to the same corporations as Republicans, but Obama speaks against oil and pharmaceutical giants, tells Detroit automakers to increase their energy efficiency and alternatives, and puts health insurance companies on notice that they will not be able to limit or deny access to anyone or continue pushing up health costs. Obama worked on the Death Penalty Moratorium in Illinois, though he is not against the death penalty altogether and that is very disappointing, as Abolish the Death Penalty points out on their website, Obama pushed through the first state-wide mandatory videotaping of homicide interrogations and confessions in the nation while strongly opposed by law enforcement. Obama is the first candidate since Public Campaign Financing to request a hearing and get pre-authorization to go back to Public Financing after the primary if his opponent does also – he could not rely solely on Public Financing in the primary after Hillary refused to and stay competitive. He’s not a saint, just a conscientious citizen and community activist-turned Senator, trying to lead the U.S. out of infamy without millions in personal money, or in PAC money (again only frontrunner not taking any), or in federal lobbyist money (which includes defense contractors and the entire military industrial complex – also only frontrunner doing so). I’m glad you can still appreciate his ability to work across the aisle – the alternative is pretty undemocratic – but the DLC-association is sadly misleading. Claims the “left” has embraced him are also wrong. The most determined separatist/identity-politics and anti-capitalist groups certainly don’t adore him. Pacifists don’t adore him; he’s stated repeatedly, clearly he’s not against all wars. Maybe you should differentiate between progressives who want to get their agenda passed by working to convince others, and “revolutionaries” who want to see the entire system thrown out even if some/most citizens still want parts of it.

Since entering the Senate, Obama has voted 24 times for war. How is that a peace candidate? Obama voted 5 times to renew USA-PATRIOT. How is that pro-freedom? Obama sponsored the coal into liquid fuel bill (and environment-gutter) and voted to fund Yucca Mountain and nuclear bunker busters. How is that pro-environment? Obama says one thing and does the exact opposite. This is why the Black Agenda Report (blackagendareport.com) does not support him. Check out their article in today’s edition about how Obama is the phony anti-war candidate.

Don’t think Obama is pro-choice, either. He regularly votes to confirm anti-choice justices. He even voted for cloture on Priscilla Owen, who Gonzales considers a right-wing extremist.

Robert Earl Lewis said,

in June 22nd, 2007 at 5:44 am

Who does the Black Agenda Report support? and why?

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